Moorcraft - Dying for the truth: the concise history of frontline war reporting

The Concise History of Frontline War Reporting

PAUL L. MOORCRAFT

For journalists who cover conflict zones, luck is like a blind trust fund. You can make withdrawals, but not deposits and you never know how much is left.

Allen Pizzey, CBS News

Recent Military History by Paul Moorcraft

African Nemesis: War and Revolution in Southern Africa; 19452010

Axis of Evil: The War on Terror (with Gwyn Winfield and John Chisholm)

Guns and Poses: Travels with an Occasional War Correspondent

Inside the Danger Zones: Travels to Arresting Places

The Rhodesian War: A Military History (with Peter McLaughlin)

Mugabes War Machine

Shooting the Messenger: The Politics of War Reporting (with Philip M. Taylor)

Total Destruction of the Tamil Tigers: the Rare Victory in Sri Lankas Long War

Omar al-Bashir and Africas Longest War

The Jihadist Threat: The Re-conquest of the West?

On mathematics

It just doesnt add up: Explaining Dyscalculia and Overcoming Number

Problems for Children and Adults

Recent fiction

Anchoress of Shere

Regression

What the critics said about Paul Moorcrafts previous books on reporting in war zones

What the hell am I doing here? (1995)

Gripping tales from the life and wars of an irrepressible foreign correspondent. James MacManus, The Times

An erudite potpourri of good reporting, whimsical colour, historical perspective and wit. Moorcraft takes a jaundiced-eyed, literate and often sensitive frolic across the news fronts of two decades.Allen Pizzey, CBS News Correspondent

Pauls been around and doesnt it show. John Humphrys, BBC

I am amazed hes still alive. Sir John Keegan, Defence Editor, Daily Telegraph

One of our eras foremost scholars of international communications as well as one of our leading professional journalists. He is truly a scholar-journalist of which there are few ... A superb writer. Loyal Gould, Emeritus Professor of Journalism, Baylor University, Texas

... unlike many of the instant experts of journalism, he is also a scholar .... It rips along, making it difficult to put down ... solidly entertaining story in the style of the old-fashioned and probably politically incorrect Kiplingesque adventure story. As a good yarn, it is all the better and more convincingly detailed because it is founded on strong journalism. Professor Damien Kingsbury, Journalism Department, Deakin University, Australia

... an exceptional book, which is well worth buying due to its humour and the remarkable experiences of the author .... This professional journalists brilliant account of his many adventures makes marvellous reading and is highly recommended. Oliver Lindsay, Guards Magazine

Fascinating reading ... Passion, pace and wit here by the bucketful ... bracingly honest. Colonel Michael Peters, Despatches

He writes vividly, with pace and authority .... Alan Ward, Department of War Studies, Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst

Thoroughly readable and, ironically, very enjoyable. Candid in his opinions of both sides in each war, the fascinating expeditions into war zones reveal the reality of rule by the gun and the value of cigarettes as a hard currency .... Stimulating read ... part travel book, part history, part autobiography, Moorcraft talks sparingly of his personal life. Wanderlust magazine

Paul Moorcraft is an academic with a considerable reputation ... but the Cardiffborn teacher is also one of those journalists who cannot resist the call of trouble wherever it develops in the world. Mario Basini, Western Mail

Guns and Poses: Travels with an occasional war correspondent (2001)

Gripping collection of dispatches from many of the most war-torn countries of recent times ... told with comically little machismo. Times Literary Supplement

Gripping tales from the life and wars of Paul Moorcraft, an irrepressible foreign correspondent. Legion magazine

... a footloose freelance with a consuming curiosity about human behaviour from the battlefield to the bar-room. He minces no words about the shambolic state of our poor old world. Good Book Guide

Paul Moorcraft has crammed more drama, intrigue, adventure and good oldfashioned hard-core journalism into his existence than most of us will manage in a lifetime . Guns and Poses is absorbing as a historical read and as the memoirs of a man who lives life large. Cara Bouwer, Business Day , Johannesburg

a type of professional detachment that rejected the temptation of advocacy journalism thought provoking and readable. Stephen Williams, African Business

Bin Laden escaped Paul Moorcraft, but a hundred other fascinating people did not. This is recent history written with humour and sometimes pathos. The print is in black and white but the prose is in full colour. Graham Bound, Focus magazine

Inside the Danger Zones: Travels to Arresting Places (2010)

unforgettable journey insightful information very entertaining. The Citizen, Johannesburg

Driven by a desire to test the limits of his own courage, he has spent more than three decades dodging bullets in the worlds most dangerous regions. Western Mail

Full of verve a compulsive book. Professor Stephen Chan, The Round Table

Easy-going style tongue-in-cheek humour a knowledgeable book. Defence Focus

An author with a history that reads like 007s back story. Surrey Advertiser

Refreshingly self-effacing account healthy sense of colour-blindness few punches are pulled . There is something of William Boot (the bumbling protagonist in Evelyn Waughs masterful Scoop ) in Moorcrafts account.Adrian Johnson, RUSI Journal

The author and the book defy all metrics he is a national treasure. The book is really that good. An anthropological primer to the warzones of the world, their peoples and cultures. Steve Johnson, CBRNe World

Shooting the Messenger: The Politics of War Reporting (2011)

Shooting the Messenger should be high on the reading list of aspiring strategists. David R. Mets, US Air Force Research Institute

a cracking history of war reporting and its political impact, unreservedly recommended reading for practitioners, scholars and journalists alike. Kenneth Payne, RUSI Journal

well-written, well-researched, accessible study highly recommended. Choice , national US library journal

an invaluable title for any collection strong in either military history/military issues, or journalism studies. Midwest Book Review

I must admit I thought it was rather good, and enjoyed the read. Some welcome deadpan humour from time to time . With input right up to the Libyan war, this book covers a lot of ground in an accessible way. Recommended as a reader for the more serious student of journalism, but also for those less serious but interested in their news all the same. Guy Gabriel, Albany Associates

Penetrating look at the complex issues surrounding war reporting. Mark Kukis, Baghdad correspondent, Time magazine

crisp, provocative history that dispels many of the myths about war reporting. Philip Seib, author of The Al Jazeera Effect

Essential read for anyone interested in what generals and politicians are doing to shape and restrict good war reporting gives the big historical picture as well as the small anecdotal and entertaining details that make this book a great read .... Philip Smucker, author of Al Qaedas Great Escape

The Jihadist Threat: The Re-conquest of the West? (2015)

Shortlisted for the British Army Military Book of the Year, 2016